Tax limitation marches on.Tax Limitation Marches On "TAX-CUT INITIATIVES REJECTED BY VOTERS,' read the headline in the Wall Street Journal on November 6. Those who failed to read on probably assumed that the tax revolt A tax revolt is a political struggle to repeal, limit, or roll back a government-imposed tax. In the United States, it is often used to refer to a series of anti-tax state initiative campaigns. The first significant wave of these campaigns was during the 1930s. at the state level was dead. Not true. Three out of four measures to simply limit taxes passed, and by wide margins: 56 per cent of Montana voters approved a law to freeze property-tax collections; California California (kăl'ĭfôr`nyə), most populous state in the United States, located in the Far West; bordered by Oregon (N), Nevada and, across the Colorado River, Arizona (E), Mexico (S), and the Pacific Ocean (W). voters, by a margin of 16 points, passed a measure that makes local taxes subject to voter VOTER. One entitled to a vote; an elector. approval; and the citizens of Massachusetts Massachusetts (măsəch  `sĭts), most populous of the New England states of the NE United States. , that bastion of liberalism,
decided to limit the growth of the state's tax revenue to the
average growth in wages and salaries over the previous three years, this
measure passing by a ten-point margin.
The only tax-limitation measure to fail was in Colorado. Voters there rejected, 62 to 38 per cent, a proposal for mandatory votes on new taxes and tax increases. Their hesitation was understandable, since the measure provided for votes on taxes only during general elections, which means only every two years. The opponents of the measure used this fact in their campaign, to devastating dev·as·tate tr.v. dev·as·tat·ed, dev·as·tat·ing, dev·as·tates 1. To lay waste; destroy. 2. To overwhelm; confound; stun: was devastated by the rude remark. effect. Meanwhile, two states had measures on the ballot not merely to limit future tax growth, but to cut existing taxes. Both measures failed. In Oregon, 57 per cent of voters rejected a measure to cut property taxes. And in Montana, a proposal to abolish the property tax was defeated 56 to 44. Thus the truth in the Journal's headline. David Keating, executive director of the National Taxpayers Union National Taxpayers Union (NTU) is a pro-taxpayers advocacy organization in the United States, founded in 1969 by James Dale Davidson. It is closely affiliated with a non-profit foundation, the National Taxpayers Union Foundation (NTUF). , an anti-tax lobby, summed it up best: "The results of the recent votes simply confirm the long-term trend on state tax initiatives: Initiatives to limit taxes almost always pass, and initiatives to cut taxes almost always fail.' |
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